14.1 On A 7-footer

[Johnnyt]

To start with I know very few people play 14.1 on a 7-foot table. That's all I have at the moment, so I use it to practice on. I find it more helpful in position play and shot making than any of the drills. I played mostly 14.1 and 3-cushion in the mid 1950's to the mid 1970's, along with barbox 8-ball at the bar. I had several runs over 100 back then on the 9-footers.

Since playing a lot of 14.1 now on a 7-footer I've come to the conclusion that John Schmidt is not anal (like I thought) about insisting on the table and balls being clean whenever he plays. Nothing magnifies this more than playing 14.1 on a seven-footer. It's bad enough with clean balls and table as far as clusters go. But when the balls just stick together when you try to nudge them apart, it makes it damn near impossible to run very many. In the three or four months that I have the table I have high runs of 42, 44, 43, and 48. My corner pockets are 4 ?" and will rattle out if hit too hard on the opening of the pocket.

I'd like to know 14.1 player's thoughts on how much harder it is to get high runs on a 7-footer. I'd also like to know your high run on a 7-footer (if you ever play 14.1 on one) and how it compares to your high run on a 9-footer. Johnnyt

 

[selftaut]

I totally agree with the clean cloth and clean balls, just a bit of dirty and they stick too much.

As far as being easier to play the game on a 7 footer, thats a debate that will last forever. Some say there are more clusters, etc...etc...making it harder. Some say the shots are easier and you can get out of trouble easier with banks etc..etc...

I am in the camp of the later. Give me a clean 7 footer that plays reasonably well and I can run a lot of balls. Much tougher for me on a 9 footer.

 

[Blackjack]

Its already been mentioned that you have less space to work with on 7 foot table, but there are also other factors...

1) Your patterns have to be tighter, due to less space. You really have to rely on stop shot patterns to ensure that you don't have the cue ball going everywhere. Too much much cue ball movement means that you will probably run into something unintentionally. Less space makes that a bigger factor IMO.

2) You have to hit your break shots (primary and secondary) a lot more accurately and with much more care and precision. If you blast away the break ball and splatter the rack all over the place, you will possibly end up with very few break ball options. This makes speed control and stroke speed a big part of bar box 14.1.

3) Most 7 footers I have seen have big side pockets - and bigger pockets (generally) - at 4" on the corners this may or may not apply to you - but with larger pockets you increase the chance of scratching off the break. Just something I thought I would toss in there for you to consider.

I love talking to Pat Howey and other players that have stories of playing on the old 5X10's. Pat told me that it was a completely different game because of the break shot angles. When switching from a 7 footer to a 4X8 to a 4.5X9, these angles will always change, and the player will have to adjust.

IMO, the smaller playing surface of a 7 footer makes everything tighter, so everything in your game must be tighter. Good 14.1 is based on knowing the proper sequence and end patterns and how to get into them. Best of luck, and let us know when you're running triple digits!

(posted/replied in both threads to keep it searchable the 14.1 forum)

 

[Marop]

Schmidty ran 183 on a 7 foot Diamond with pro cut pockets. He used a borrowed stick and the table was in the OB booth at the Vegas trade show so the space to play was quite cramped.

He said that clusters can be somewhat of problem but in general all shots are easy due to the small table and he can reach all the breakshots.

He thinks its easier than a 9 footer.

 

[mworkman]

7' vs 9'

I have played 14.1 on 7' probably as much as anybody. I've probably played 2 to 3 hundred hours and my high run is 71. I just bought a 9' table and so far my high run on it is 40, (only had it a couple weeks). I think once I log another 2-3 hundred hours of 14.1 on the 9' over the next couple of years, I will be able to get a new high run. Only time will tell.

 

[Richardson]

It's so easy on a 7ft to keep your cue ball in line and do nice little bump breakouts. On a 9ft you can get a little out of line and get into a huge mess.

 

[CreeDo]

Blackjack, are my local valley tables weird? Their sides are all quite a bit smaller than their corners (which I guess could be called buckets, given how small the table is. They seem to be about 5 or 5.5". Sides are like 1.5 inches smaller than corners.

Basically when we play on bar boxes in my local 8 ball league, we avoid all side pocket shots that aren't straight in and near the middle of the table. It's not unusual for a game to pass with 0 shots into the side.

Anyway, I'm curious to try it on a 7 footer but almost by definition bar boxes have dirty cloth, balls and rails, and numerous rolls. It'd be impossible to play properly on it. I can break as hard as I can in 8 ball and barely spread 'em. Of all the pool halls I've played in this state, only 1 kept a bar box around seemingly for shooters who prefer it because it's a different game. For all the rest it's just a space consideration and more or less treated like a bigger version of the megatouch machine or jukebox. And that one got rid of the bar box recently >_<